10 Minutes of Tennis: Is Nick Kyrgios good for the sport of tennis?

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As always, Justin Yeo, world renowned tennis coach, Australian in Puerto Rico,

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and I am Shaun Boyce, and today we are asking the question,

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well, I am asking the question, is Nick Kyrigos is good for the sport,

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and knowing you are Australian, and clearly all Australians know each other,

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since you all know each other.

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You get that every once in a while, Justin, you get that,

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"Oh, you're from Australia, oh yeah, do you know Jim?"

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Yeah, you know Jim, right from Australia.

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Yeah, we all apparently know each other.

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You all know each other, exactly.

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25 me and in the size of the United States,

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and we're supposed to know each other.

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You all know each other, since clearly.

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But in this case, I think you do know personally, Nick.

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I do, I've had to work with him when he was a junior,

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and he had a junior development at Tennis Australia,

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and seeing his growth was incredible.

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Now, I've next list had a run out, but it went for the like,

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chubby boys and the tall skinny kid that years now.

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And again, I can refrain from calling my kid,

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but we're all seeing as a kid, and we all have to understand these guys,

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even in their 20s, it's still kids these days.

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Everyone will chew us later, if they don't,

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their robotic, they're not being themselves,

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they're not, you know, they're trying to be someone else.

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And that's what I think, that I need to open up about.

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Nick Curios is just being himself, you know,

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and what I have to say,

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without putting my foot in my mouth,

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is that he's expressing and being himself,

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that majority of all tennis players are on the inside,

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by trying to manage it and not see it on the outside.

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I think that's a great way to put it.

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And that's the easiest way to put it, right?

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Now, are you best to try to change that,

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or are you best to try to help manage it?

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And that has been my thing for tennis Australia for,

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I don't know, at least six years, seven years,

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when he was in Wimbledon and knocked off,

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you know, for the top 10 players,

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and he's first ever Wimbledon.

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I mean, come on guys, like, the guy was talented.

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There's no question.

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Everybody was like, oh,

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now we've got to really up the ramp.

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They've ramped it up,

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and he ended up with foot damage.

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So, and stress fraction is a feat,

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but all sorts of issues with his body,

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because they just ramped it up,

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and he just wasn't in a position helpwise.

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I mean, the guy went from this to this,

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and from this to this.

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And so, again, these governing bodies,

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they just see something and go,

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"Wow, we're gonna look like,"

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and it's like,

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"Why don't we focus on what's best for the player?"

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And then we'd actually probably have

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a lot of long-term plays,

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but no, no, no, it's,

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when he won, or, or, or,

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cut and burn, next one.

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And so, that's a whole other subject.

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We can talk about that, not that.

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But Nick Curios, as far as I'm concerned,

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is good for sport.

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And when you say the question, sport,

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you're good for sports.

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And what I say is because,

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he's able to learn how to learn how to express these days.

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We've got a lot of very introverted,

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very internal, especially because of the pandemic as well.

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A lot of them too have no idea how to use their competitiveness,

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how to be connected to their competitiveness,

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how to be amongst an environment,

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to learn how to behave,

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how to get the mannerisms.

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You only learn this stuff by, you know,

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making a bad step,

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falling on your face,

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and then getting back up again.

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You know,

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yeah, he's a little bit of a bad mouth.

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Yeah, he's a little bit wild,

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a little bit crazy,

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and he's a little bit out there.

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But, you know, you've got to look at the history of sport.

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The Beyond Board,

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there was Joe Macri than that, right?

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There was Jimmy Connist,

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I'm going by Americans right now.

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And he wrote it,

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they were all like very passionate,

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very out there, very in the face.

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But that's part of competitiveness

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that we need in this sport right now.

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We needed a misfortune,

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we needed an all-spore, it's for kids.

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Because of where they are,

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pandemic-wise,

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I think the mental health part too,

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Nick talks about, you know, being yourself,

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learning how to express,

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he's just learned how to express and get better.

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And, I don't know,

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I follow him on Instagram,

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I think,

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sometimes,

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yet, some of these that put his foot in his mouth

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or his mouth,

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these give him a little backhand from Canberra

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and give him a whack,

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which I'm sure she does.

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As an Aussie, I'm absolutely certain

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that he gets the backhandist

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and said, "What the hell,

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why'd you speak like that?

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Why'd you do that?

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Why'd you brag about getting $500,000 in bond?"

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Like,

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there's nothing to brag about, son, you know?

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That's actually an idiot laryton.

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And you're better than that, right?

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So, yes, we can talk about all that stuff.

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But as far as I'm concerned,

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he is a true,

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not just the true Aussie,

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but a true Samaritan,

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as far as learning how to express,

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learning how to focus on being yourself,

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being in the...

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And I wish...

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I wish he had a little better direction

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when he was younger to allow him

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to manage what he was.

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And he would be even more of a talent right now

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for us in tennis,

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and in Australia, and in sport.

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Maybe, and if I can jump in here,

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I don't know if that would have stifled his

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interesting nature and stifled what he became

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where I would picture more of a...

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of a Safan type.

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You take a guy who's just a little on the edge every once in a while,

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and that's that explosiveness

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that we want that can be great and can be...

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can produce championship material,

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but then take a great coach and somebody to hone that

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and send that forward.

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And that's where...

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And I don't want to get into the...

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should he have a coach?

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Should he not?

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That's not my...

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It's not my role at all.

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That's not...

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Is he good for the sport?

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That's not the question.

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The question is,

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does he agree with a...

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Francis Tiafo, who might say,

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"Hey, let's have people milling around."

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And you know what?

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If I don't like what that guy is saying in the crowd,

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I should be able to hit a ball at him.

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That'll be fun.

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And just to change the sport

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and modernize,

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maybe not in a good way.

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Dave Matthews recently has said,

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"No, he'd go the other way.

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He's the one he wants to clean it up.

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Make it a little more old school."

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But Nick leans into his personality

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and how he is on the court.

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And he doesn't have that stifled...

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I'm trying not to smash my racket.

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He just smashed his racket and he's fine.

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I don't know that he needs to brag about it

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because tennis still is...

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Is it...

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I'll ask this question, Justin.

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Is it ironic?

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Ironic's the wrong word.

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Is it interesting that his best result

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is that the most fancy, hoity, toyty,

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keep your act together,

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keep it in line event that we have in tennis?

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Yeah, I mean,

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if we really watch...

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When he's performing and he's feeling good,

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there's...

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I mean, one, he's like being almost unstoppable, too.

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He's unbelievable to watch.

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And three,

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he's...

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It's a show.

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It's awesome.

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It's like...

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We're just like, "Wow!"

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You know?

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And if you talk across the tour,

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all the plays,

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they all talk about how talented that guy is.

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And they do not want a face him in the draw.

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If he comes on, he turns on.

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Right?

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And they're basically trying to find a way

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on the court to throw him off.

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Because if not,

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that racket is just making him...

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That is causing a hurting.

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So, and you never know when that thing's going to go hot.

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But when it goes cold, it goes cold.

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Oh yeah.

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And so, I don't know.

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Patrick Barrett-Toglouk says,

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"His personality is what we need, and I agree with him."

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You know, like, when we watch...

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When the people watch, and they look for...

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Look at...

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People watching the less tennis on TV,

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because they haven't looked for hours.

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And they're more tuned into highlights

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than any time before.

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Right?

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And a highlight doesn't want to see table tennis doing this.

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A highlight wants to be...

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Boom!

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And they go, "Oh my, wow!"

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You know?

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I mean, one of the biggest shots that's on

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all the time right now is Monk Fist,

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Cross Pass, the net,

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Slice, trying to understand how we get that forehand.

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And just the mental saying, "Well, I'm just going to do that right here,

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because the ball had to be there right at the right time,

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and you've got a millisecond to say,

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"Well, that's the choice I'm going to do."

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And hit the shot of a lifetime that is just...

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I mean, it's like a whole-in-one in your goal, basically.

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What Monk Fist just did.

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You know?

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And...

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So, I'd need curious to me.

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It's a lot of whole-in-one.

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He hit some pretty unexpected shots.

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And, you know, Bernard Tomick, he was very similar.

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He played the unexpected shots,

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which people struggled to play against him,

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but unfortunately, they got used to it.

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But, but, he was...

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That guy gets hot.

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There's no getting used to that guy.

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No, no, he's just going to be in your face.

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And then the question is, is it good television as well?

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You said there's less television watching,

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more highlight-watching.

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He's just a...

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What we would call a human highlight reel.

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Yeah, I mean, people tune into his interviews.

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And, you know, I got a group of them.

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You know, some of the media questions, come on, man.

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Like, what are you going to say to him?

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I'm going to talk about it.

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Like, you know, some of them are so boring that he's like,

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"Next question."

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Come on.

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Seriously?

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And let's focus on the tennis, too,

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because they're usually trying to bump in,

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trying to beat him.

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And how to tell him he's not even bragging.

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He's not bragging.

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He's just pushing back on what they've given him.

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You know?

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And fair enough.

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You know, Trump did the same thing.

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I mean, look at how many big names are out there

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that just say, let's say they're peace

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and say what they need to say back.

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That most people don't say, but they want to say.

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So...

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Yeah, and that can be magnetic.

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Meaning it can draw people in or push people away.

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Yeah.

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I will admit many tennis coaches are like that.

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I'm definitely like that, where I'm going to say what I think.

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Yeah, I feel like it.

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I'm good with that.

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I don't know.

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Not everybody's going to like me.

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Right.

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So I mean, yes, there could be filters,

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but there's filters in everything we do.

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And if I lay out my pros and cons,

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I lay out how much filter, how much non-filter,

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I'd take this side all day long.

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Would Nick have...

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Yeah, I agree.

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So, yes or no.

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Is Nick Kerrio's good for the sport of tennis?

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Absolutely.

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Absolutely.

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That's not a yes or no.

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Absolutely, yes.

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This is my journalistic side.

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I only want a yes or no.

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Yes or no.

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Yes, yes, yes.

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Yes, you feel both.

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Yes.

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Yes, yes, yes.

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Well done.

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Justin, you know, 10 minutes of tennis.

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Well, there you have it.

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